Empath
by Prime's sparkling
Summary: Meet Max, a mutant with a history that goes further than the ferals. As part of a near extinct spiecies of mutants, Max is one of the remaining Empaths. Part of the reason why they have almost been wiped out is the fact that they only have one mate ever. Max must now find hers, the blue man with the devils tail and the yellow eyes she had been dreaming about since she was 7.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey guys, so at long last i have final decided to post this fanfic. I know that I've been promising on my page for a long time to post this but would you believe me if I told you it's taken me over a year just to get my laptop working again? Long story short, the operating system crashed and locked ALL my files completly. I only just got it fixed a couple of weeks ago and I've been too swamped with law school to even think about up dating anything. Anyhow this little bit had been laying in storage for over two years now and I figured with the new X-Men: Apocolapes out, it would be a good time to let it rip. This story takes place during the older time lines before Days Of Future Pasts, it kinda has to for the plot to work and it is an OC based story much like all my other ones. I just loved Nightcralwer so much when i was a kid. In fact i still do. Hence this little monster.**

 **Disclaimer: Prime's sparkling doesn't own X men or any of its characters. She only owns her OC's.**

 **Citisism on the work is welcome, Flames will be used on Logan's grill to cook marshmellows.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 1**

 **THE BLUE MAN**

* * *

 **'Cause we are broken**  
 **What must we do to restore**  
 **Our innocence**  
 **And oh, the promise we adored?**  
 **Give us life again**  
 **'Cause we just wanna be whole'**

 **Paramore: Broken**

* * *

The mansion was quiet during the night, something she had thought impossible at one stage. Max loved it when the silence took over the estate and all the noise rushed out in one blast of warm air as everyone slipped into a slumber till the next morning. It was the one chance she had at the end of each day to simply think, without worrying whether her Shields were strong enough to protect herself from the mirage of emotions that the other children gave off during the daytime and the occasional nightmare at night. Her sapphire coloured eyes drew themselves across the back yard where a brave squirrel was tempting the vast green battered ground to rescue itself a meal for the winter while the trees were distracted and battled with one another on the side lines. Above them, the moon watched on entertained by the howling wind's puppets and bathed the house in its safe glow as a precaution that its festivities did not become out of hand.

Behind the thin glass, Max fought a battle of her own as she tucked the stray neon blue strand of hair back behind her pointed ears. She did not care that she was awake after the curfew and sitting in front of a large window in the middle of the corridor in the middle of the night. Her thoughts were turbulent as she tried to organize them over the back flow of emotions that she had kept bottled up during the day. She snorted internally at the idea that most humans gave to the thought of empathic powers, ignorant of how far they would have had to go to protect their minds from everyone else. She understood where they came from through. Bonds were wonderful, if they were strong she could have been anywhere in the world and still have not felt alone, or could have just curled up in the thick blankets of love and affection that they offered when distressed. They ensured her safety and she could learn valuable lessons from those close to her when they let her into their thoughts. But at the same time, they could be a person's worst nightmare as well. A broken bond was painful, and Max had already lost so many from it as well. Her thoughts fluttered back to her current mood and the empty space in her head ached in reminder.

Cathy.

Her best friend.

Her sister.

Her twin.

Max closed her eyes as she fought against the soldiers of salt that attempted to run AWOL from her eyes. Cathy had not deserved to die. Not after she had finally found Joseph, her Alter. Not when she had been carrying the little boy that she never even got the chance to hold in her arms and hear cry for the first to time. But she did, when Patrick had taken his last breath after the strange men with weapons put a bullet in his chest for a few loose change in his pocket and his wedding ring one night and destroyed the powerful bond that they had shared. Or at least that's what Max had told herself when she had been forced to watch her wonderful sister that had been happy and excited about life wither away into a creature that she no longer recognized. She had spent days at her deathbed trying to beg her not to go, not to let anything more happen to them after their father had followed their mother into the grave in early similar circumstances, but in the end it had been in vain and they had to bury her next to her beloved husband as the sister bond snapped in Max's mind. Leaving behind only agony and loneliness.

Tears ran down Max's pale cheek as she remembered the feeling of loss and a longing to die. It had been three years since the Cathy's death, exactly three years that very night since her entire world had shattered around her and changed for the worst. She wordlessly peered out over the garden again and noticed that the moon had grown dark looming clouds as though it mourned her loss with her.

That night she dreamt of the blue man again. She did not exactly understand why she always drifted off to someone she had never met before, yet knew it had to do with her Alter, the one she had never managed to find. She met him in their landscape as she always did; she on her side where the soft warm beach sand fluttered around her feet and the waves swished and swirled like a heartbeat nearby. He stood on his end of the area, designed like a giant circus that smelled constantly of popcorn and food. A half ring formed where he did his practices and it blended into the sand on her side like a half moon line. The interior of the tent was covered in luxurious reds and purples and a trapeze line covered the near top end of it. The blue man was hanging from the rope when she appeared on the edge of her landscape, not from his arms but the long tail he had. She could admit that he had freaked her out at first when she had seen him, but now it seemed as though she had known him for years. She sat down at the barrier and simply watched was he did a routine on the line. His movements were smooth and well-practiced and the ease that he traveled with his moves astounded her. She loved the expression of freedom and the relaxed look his face gave as he swung from one side to the other. Recently he had seemed to be under a lot of pressure and something had felt wrong with him for the last few months. She wondered what had been bothering him as his face had often broken into strained expressions of pain.

He stopped with a pose on the mat in the half circle. She felt like clapping but froze when he looked her way. She could have sworn that he had noticed her appearance. He did not see her and she sucked in a breath when he removed his old shirt after a moment, feeling like some peeking tom. Despite his demon like appearance, Max could only think that this man was something from heaven. And that god had been having a good day when he had made him. He was tall and lithe frame wise, muscles taunt and not overly large. Sweat dribbled deliciously over the tattoos carved into his chest, each strange and curving around one another like a continuous pattern all the way up to his face. She had always wondered what they were in her spare time and the wanton to run her fingers over each marking was strong. His eyes were a glowing honey color that constantly seemed to see right through her and his hair was a mess of short black curls that she longed to be able to run her fingers through. The man muttered something, though the barrier prevented her from hearing what exactly. She saw him kneel down and pull off the rosemary he kept wrapped around his three fingered hand and his waist. She had found out that he was very religious during the first two or three times she had seen him after she had turned eight years old. Max wondered what he was praying about and found her thoughts going back to her sister again. Her parents had brought them up to respect all cultures and had not forced them into any belief, which made sense considering her mother had been a catholic but their father an atheist. They had wanted their children to have the choice of choosing their own paths and Max liked the idea of having something to look forward to after death. She wandered what her sister was doing now, up in the clouds with her Alter and the child that never got to live outside of her womb. Was she watching over her? Was she happy? Max did not know. She did not know exactly what else to do. She looked over at the still praying blue man in wonder and tentivly sent out a prayer to anyone that was listening for her sister's happiness. When she opened her eyes, she noticed that the blue man had begun to waver and wobble as he faded away and sighed. She knew it meant that he was waking up and returning to the real world out there. She wished he would stay, desperately. She knew that the moment he left that she would once again be alone in her mind and feels the pain that losing the bonds her family's deaths had caused overwhelm her. As the last light of color left the fading form that had been the praying man, Max found herself be reminded of it and a small part of her withered away and began to die.

She watched for a moment, taking in the bright festive colors of the walls and then smells of the strange man's landscape, before she raised herself to her feet from where she had been sitting in the warm sand. She slowly trekked across the beach and sighed to herself as she moved further into her subconscious. The sand disappeared and she noticed the new cracks that had formed in what was left of her soul.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Prime's sparkling does not own X-men. X-men belongs to Marvel. She only owns her OCs and her plot.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 2**

 **VISITING HISTORY**

* * *

' _I might have to wait, I'll never give up_

 _I guess it's half timing, and the other half's luck_

 _Wherever you are, whenever it's right_

 _You'll come out of nowhere and into my life'_

 _-_ Just haven't met u yet (Micheal Buble)

* * *

Max awoke feeling more tired than when she had gone to bed the night before. Her eyes felt as dry as her throat and the light coming from the window did not help the pain in her head at all. Purring, she stretched out her unimpressive 4 foot 8 frame on her bed, looking like one of the cats that she had seen on TV with Jubilee and felt a satisfying pop come from her shoulder. She reached over to her bedside for the glass of water that she always kept there and sat up. The water was soothing and she swallowed in small sips while she looked around. Her room was fairly large and the walls had been covered in a light oak color. She had kept her side covered in drawings that she had done over the years and had gone as far as letting them cover the doors to the shelves where her clothing was stored. A large window gave her a view of the house hold outside and the dark curtains that covered most of it completed the look. Sometimes she felt as though she was living in a fancy four star hotel and not a school for the gifted. Sighing, Max got out of the bed and tiredly padded over to the window. It was clear outside, and the remnants of the battle that she had seen the previous night had long since disappeared back into the shadows. The sun was slowly rising over the tree line, a motherly figure that greeted her children warmly after the rule free father had tired them out during the dark. She bathed them all in her cleaning light and with a sigh, Max allowed herself to relax under her care, if only for a moment. She caught sight of one of the younger boys kicking a ball around outside and smiled. It still felt like a dream to her that she was here and safe, away from them. Her brows frowned.

Max remembered the day that Professor Xavier had found her. She had been running, from herself, and from everyone else. _Cathy had just died and Jeff had been out of the country. She had felt so alone, wished that she would die, anything for the pain in the broken twin bond with her sister in her head to leave. It had been less painful when her parents had left them, mostly because they had been really small when they had passed, but this. How did a person recover when they lost their only twin, the only other half of one soul that knew you from the womb and beyond? She did not know. For a while she had wondered around completely lost to both the world and herself, before she got tired and one day decided to visit the graveyard where her family laid in rest. Then the men in the suits had pulled up with their guns flashing, demanding that she left with them. She had been so confused and in agony from her_ _recent loss that when the first man had roughly grabbed her arm she just reacted. She had glowed, like a light bulb, a dark red color that blinded her assistants. Before she knew it, she had been running, frightened of with was happening around her. The trees she had run into had become denser and she remembered the irony smell of blood that had come from her shoulder when one of the men had shot at her. Her tail had shot upwards quickly when she had broken their line of sight, snagging the lowest tree branch she could find to pull herself up and off the ground. There she had waited, with her heart doing the four step up in her throat. Back then she hadn't understood what had been going on, other than the fact that she had been completely terrified. She had held her breath when the men searched the area correctly below her, eyes widening when they suddenly froze like time was standing still._

 _'You can come down now Maxine. These men will no longer harm you.'_

 _Her head had snapped up to see the in the wheelchair through the lush bushes and Max remembered how shocked she had felt when she realized he knew her name._

 _"Who are you?" She croaked out, wrapping her tail around the branch she was sitting on, "how you know my name?!"_

 _"My name is Professor Charles Xavier," he had calmly replied verbally in a soothing voice that put her nerves at ease for the first time since her sister's Alters murder and for a reason she could not describe. It had reminded her of her grandfather who sat her on his knee and told her of his travels when she had been younger and before he had died a after living a full life. It had taken her a moment to realize that Professor Xavier had continued to explain._

 _"I run a school for people like us," he said softly._

 _"Us?" Max remembered asking._

 _"Yes little one, us," he gestured to the man next to him. He looked young, perhaps twenty four or twenty five years old with brown hair and pale skin. She had noticed that he wore a red visor that covered both of his eyes completely, "this is Cyclops, but his real name is professor Scott Summers. We are different like you."_

 _'You are not alone,' she heard in her head, realizing that the bold cripple was telepathic._

 _'You are correct. Come with us, you will be safe from the people who want to hurt you.'_

 _"You promise?" She asked hesitantly._

 _"Yes," the man nodes and Max had only waited a moment before climbing down from her perch and took the old man's hand..._

The beating of her alarm snapped Max out of her reverie and she took a moment to slap her hand across its top before it woke the girls in the dorm next door. Xavier had given her a room without a roommate in respect for her empathy abilities, and as such she required the alarm. She was grateful for it though, her powers were hard enough to deal with without having to worry about everyone's emotions tearing her down from the inside. She shook her head. Then went on to prepare for the rest of the day with a heavy heart, happy that there was no classes for the weekend, besides the field Trip the professor had planned for them.

* * *

"Now children the early cave dwellers had at one stage not been considered as part of the homo Sapiens species due to the erratic behavior of the their DNA," Professor Ororo Monroe explained pointing to the gruesome statues of their ancestors. Max hid herself from the humans between two of the boys she often had in her classes as she listened to what was going on. Her shields were being pelted by their emotions and she felt like crawling away to die in a hole with the entire nativity. When she had been younger, Jeff and Cathy had sheltered her from the world's cruelty. Mostly because Max had only learned to create her shields when she had entered her early adolescent years. Jeff had once told her that she had been a late bloomer. She could not understand why the humans hated them though, but she could sense the hatred that came off them in waves like a constant stream of high pressured water shooting in every direction. Warily, Max turned and pushed her way through the cloud, wanting to get out. Though none of the humans could see her, she kept her tail firmly wrapped around her waist, least someone accidently stood on it. She smiled. She had learned since joining the school that she could project any type of light from her body and if she concentrated hard enough she could project anything that was behind her to her front, effectively camouflaging her from the world. Of course it only worked in the people's eyes and not their ears or noses as she had figured out in the danger room simulations when Logan had smelt and heard her approaching him and shot her full of paintball pellets.

She sighed in relief when she was out of the crowd, ears fluttering and with a pout, slowly made her way over to the food court where she had seen Bobby, Rogue and Pyro wonder to earlier feeling a little worried when she overhead Jean and Scott talking about the red head losing control over her powers.

When she saw what they were up to however, she could only roll her eyes. John Allerdace aka Pyro had always been a total wise ass since she'd known him.

"My brother asked you a simple question," the shorter teenager asked. He was pale and had blond hair that ran over his ears and needed a serious haircut. His brother stood next to him and Max could see the family resemblance between their green eyes and hair.

"Why you being such a dick?" She noted that the taller boy was angrier than the shorter one by the deep scarlet red that surrounded his aura, while the other boy was covered in a slowly darkening violet.

"Because I can?" John sniggered smugly and flicked his lighter open and closed. It was his favorite one, the one that he had gotten from his parents before he had accidently burned down his home and his parents along with it.

"Can I have a light?" The tall boy repeated again as Max slowly pressed a hand on Bobbie's shoulder to let him know that she was there. He jumped, and then snickered when he caught Rogue's eye. It didn't take an idiot to see that they were in love. It was obvious by the way Bobbie's eyes lit up as he gazed at her and the twitch Rogues' lips could not contain as they pushed upwards in smile at his words. Max smiled. Silently in her hearts of hearts she hoped that her relationship with her Alter could be like theirs; a pure and beautiful joining of minds.

John pursued his lips for a moment, flicking his lighter mockingly open for a moment and with a cheeky smile told them no.  
Max frowned. Her empathy flared slightly in warning and she tightened her hold on her mental shields in case something went down.

"Why don't you stop showing off?" Bobbie asked seeming to pick up of her distress. She had never responded well to conflict, preferring peace over violence of any kind.

"Oh for her?" Pyro asked smugly, "afraid your girlfriend won't be so excited about you anymore?"

Max bleached when she saw the lecherous look the younger boy gave Rogue. If Logan were here, he would have skewered them simply for having eyes.\

"Why can't you just have a good time?"

"I think the only one having a good time here is you," Bobbie said placing a cool hand over my own in comfort. Max felt extremely grateful, but her nerves refused to settle down when the older boy simply reached over and grabbed the little silver lighter when Pyro was distracted, earning a angered 'HEY' from the trouble maker.  
She began to tremble when the teenager lit his cigar while his brother prevented Pyro from getting back his precious fire source with an angry feeling to his aura. She felt it whip across her shields like a thunder clouds booming in the sky. Shit. Max cringed and wordlessly screamed out.

'Professor!'

'I'm on my way child,' was the soft reply and she relaxed slightly, though not by much when Pyro made the boy's cigar explode and lite his arm on fire. Bobby and Rogue jumped out of their seats and Max stepped backwards when Bobby let out a stream of ice to put it out. Everything went quiet for a moment, even after the boy had fallen onto his rear end and knocked over the tray on the other table near them. Then it froze, like the day everyone did when Professor Xavier had found her. She noticed Bobbie look around in confusion and the fear he felt assaulted the barriers to her mind in flashes of freezing white.

"Bobbie," Rogue said softly in aware, "what did ya do?"

"It wasn't him," Max murmured, seeing the brunette jump about a mile into the air, before whirling around to face her.

"That's correct," she recognized the Professor immediately as he rolled out in his wheelchair, face placid but his emotions that rolled off of him like mist over a gentle mountain told otherwise, "I did."

Max flinched away from him, unable to fight her instincts and his eyes briefly flashed over to her. She realized that he was not angry at her and calmed down as he turned to the other three. She never quite understood why he had that effect on her but had long since decided not to question it.

"So the next time you want to show off, don't," the professor said firmly and Max couldn't help but laugh when she saw Jubilee poke one of the nearby frozen people in the head.

The sound of the TV changing channels sobered her up and a deep sense of dread filled her when the news in Washington met her ears.

A feeling washed over her, something she had not felt since the first time she had dreamt of the blue man and felt shocked to her core. It was like a deep longing, every cell in her body calling out for the other half of her soul, to find him. To find her Alter, who had just attempted to assassinate the president? She didn't know how she knew it was him, she just did.

"Professor," Scott said tiredly as he wrapped his hands over the shoulders of two kids closest to him, "I think we should go."

"I think it'll be for the best," the professor nodded and Max knew then and there that the worst was yet to come.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

 **MEETING HIM**

* * *

"I still think Magneto is behind this," Scott sounded angrier than she had heard him in a long time.

"No I don't think so Scott," Jean said as she twisted in her seat. Even from behind the door, Max could feel the lava flow of her emotions against her mind. She shivered. There was something dangerous about her that rubbed Max up the wrong way. It was the type off feeling that disturbed you yet you had no clue what it was. Kind of like flopping onto a couch and slowly realizing that the lump you felt under the cochin was a gun. She knew that it had something to do with her out of control abilities which had gotten worse over the last two years since the Battle at Library Island. In a way Max felt guilty for snooping in on the other teachers was she was, but her instincts were screaming at her in a way she had NEVER experienced before. They were tingling and burning with the need to find the mutant in question and she had always listened to them. Her instincts had been one of the few reasons that she had survived the horrors the world had thrown at her and she had yet to recall a single time that they had been wrong. Unfortunately, she could not join in on the talk as while she was a tutor herself she was not an X-men as of yet. She pressed her ear firmer against the warm wooden door.

"Well Eric is capable of organizing such a strike from prison," the professor replied, "but for him it would be irrational. It would only hurt his goal of mutant prosperity."

'More like mutant superiority,' Max thought, smiling when she heard Scott mirror her thoughts. Seemed like her and Scooter finally agreed to something for a change.

"You're right," Xavier murmured tightly, "if I recount his ways."

"Well you know how the government will respond," Storm said and her emotions struck all around her in a hot flash of lightning, "they'll introduce the registration act."

"Or worse the president could declare a state of emergency," Xavier said solemnly, "place every mutant under arrest."

Max shivered, having not thought about that during the excitement.

"Do you think the assassin was working alone?" Jean asked but Max knew deep in her bones that her Alter was not some sort of terrorist group. He was just too kind for that.

"We won't know that until we find him before the authorities do," the professor's voice became soft, "I've been trying to track him using cerebro but his movements are unexplainably erratic. When I have more exact coordinates, Storm, Jean, I'll need you to take the jet and try and pick him up."

"Yes professor," Max heard both of them reply before she dove away from the door like the devil was on her tail. She focused her energy over her body, and felt a buzz on her skin before a light blue light enveloped her flesh and she disappeared from sight. Scott walked past her, nearly stepping on her tail which she ripped back in horror, as did Storm, but Jean paused in front of her nearly nose to nose. Max could feel her exhales on her cheek but she refused to move or even make a sound. She saw Jean frown and slowly reach out a hand.

"Jean," Scott called and just like that the telepath's attention was turned away from her, "are you coming?"

"Yes," she smiled and with love caressing her deceiving aura, she padded over to him and took his hand. Max watched them go up the stairs and only when they were gone did she release the breath she had been holding. She sighed and made to leave the area.

'Maxine please enter my office,' she cringed. Shit.

"You are aware that eavesdropping is extremely rude Miss Fox," the professor said once she had settled down into a chair opposite the crippled man. She lowered her head in shame, "However I understand the reasoning why you have done it."

Max's head shot up in disbelief, sure that she had miss heard him. But from the look in his eyes she knew that he had spoken truly. A shocked look appeared over her feline like face and she knew that he had drew the information from her head through the bond they created during her first night at the mansion. Her brows frowned heavily, a look that had appeared on her figure more times in the last few days than it had in the three years she had been at Xavier's school for the gifted.

"Then you know why I have to go with them," she said softly.

"That I do," Xavier remarked softly and Max felt a sense of fear that he would forbid her to go, forbid her the chance to finally see her alter, the one she was meant to find, "you think he did not do it."

"No," she shook her head truthfully, "I know he did it. But something is off about it, like he lost control of his body."

"Have you been seeing him in your dreams lately?"

Max blushed but nodded and nervously fiddled rubbed her fingers together, "last night actually."

"What was he doing?" The professor asked and she flushed in embarrassment. Among her family, the dreams of alters had been a private and even sacred subject to speak of and Max felt uncomfortable voicing them to others often, but she answered him anyway.

"He was practicing his routine," she twirled a piece of blue hair between her fingers, "I think he was in some sort of circus before he came to America."

"How do you know that he's not from the states?" The professor asked in complete curiosity.

Max shrugged, "I don't know, I just do."

"What else was he doing?" Xavier came around in his wheelchair.

"He was praying," she said softly, "I don't know what about though, won't until the link become as bond...if it ever becomes a bond."

"You sell yourself short child," the professor said softly and wrapped a warm hand over her fighting ones, "you never know."

Max nodded and turned her head to look him directly in the eyes, "something has been bothering him though. For the last couple of months he was acting strange."

"Strange how?" Xavier asked tucking a strand of hair over her pointed ears.

"He acted like someone was making him do something he didn't want to do," Max replied softly, "like Cody Walters was when you found him."

Max knew remembered the horrifying case that had been Cody Walters. The boy had only been nine years old when he had manifested into a power house. His parents had seen it as the chance to get off the grid and to save a few bucks at the end of each month. They had literally tied him to the power box in the basement and had beaten him till he powered the house with electricity. By the time he had been brought to the mansion, Cody had been distrustful of everyone else, often retreating into his mind to get away from everyone that tried to get near him. It had taken her months to gain his trust and even to that day he mostly only responded to her and the professor. Silence remained for a few moments and Max worried her lower lip with her teeth while she waited for him to say something.

"Storm and Jean will meet you at the hanger, but don't be late," he said after a moment and Max felt a mental cheer sweep though her. The smile on the professor's face told her that he was aware of the little party that was booming through her shields.

* * *

"LOGAN!" Max roared when she saw the feral mutant hugging Rogue at the door. She kept gracefully off of the banisters and landed on her feet and into the man's arms a moment later. She had missed him and could not help but take a lone hard whiff of the skin in his neck. He smelt of a combination of pine trees, mint, need and something that was uniquely him. In her mind the surrogate parent bond that he had started to form with her purred in happiness. The man chuckled, a warm and rich sound that ringed over the halls, and he hugged her back tightly.

"Hi kid," he pulled her back for a moment to glance her once over, "your growing like a reed since the last time I saw you."

Max punched him in the arm and pulled back her lip in annoyance. She hated when he was an ass!

"I'm not short damit, I'm just under tall!" She barked, but there was no malice in her words. The man took it all in stride and simple ruffled up her hair affectionately, something that was rare even for him.

"So tell me how old you are so I will know how many birthdays to apologize for," he said gripping the edge of his back pack lightly and Max rolled her eyes at his behavior.

"I'll be nineteen in June," she smiled and playfully danced out of the way as Bobbie walked over to them to introduce himself as Rogue's new boyfriend. She caught Storm's eyes out the corner of her own as the white haired weather which made her way down the stairwell and was quick to scurry over to the nearest elevator to the lower levels where the jet awaited their arrival.

* * *

The ride there had been a quite affair and Max sat in the back quietly while she listened to the Professor give them the coordinates to where her Alter had taken to rest for the time. She did not need the jet to find him though. The pull that she felt in her chest since the news of the attack on the president was becoming stronger as they neared their destination and she sat there contemplating what she would say to him. So deep in her thoughts, she did not even notice that Storm had come to sit on the bench next to her. The white haired weather witch looked concerned with her lips pulled tight and Max had nearly fallen out of her skin when she had felt the female teacher's hand in her own.

"Are you okay?" Storm asked carefully, the thunderstorm that was her emotions deeply running over her shields in a harsh flash, "the professor explained to us a little of what is going on with you now."

"I'm fine," Max smiled and tightened her hold on the hand, "just excited, and nervous to finally meet him. You know?"

"No I can't say I do," Storm chuckled and she could feel the amusement that rippled over her mind amplified by the skin to skin contact, "but it does leave me a little concerned. You have to remember that whoever it is, he tried to kill the president. He may not be what you think he is."

Max could only nod sadly. When the woman returned to her seat in the cabin, she had been left alone to her thoughts once more. When she next looked up, it was to the sight of the soft sunset of the city of Boston. She rubbed at the spot by her heart and nervously grinned when she felt the jet touch down. It was time to meet her future mate.

"Here?" Max asked as she looked over at the doors in disbelief, although she had been kind of expecting it. She had known that he was religious from the start, but it seemed a little ironic in her mind that he would retreat to an abandoned church to hide. Wasn't attempted murder one of the largest sins a person could get? She shook her head, despite the fact that nobody could see her under the camouflage ability she had on. Storm called up a huge gust of wind to slam the doors open as they neared them, not wanting to fall into a trap should the man have been waiting on the other side with malicious intent. But the hall was empty and dark save for the single candle that was lit by the fallen statue of Christ. Max looked around and kept close to Storm.

"These are the coordinates," Jean said as she glanced around and Max could not help but check her shields when she felt the physic Scan the area.

"Gehen sie raus!"

Max whirled around. She looked, trying to find where the voice had come from. Her brows frowned when she heard some sort of BAMF like noise and turned when the man spoke again, this time from the upper cathedral.

"Itch bin win Büttel des teufels!"

BAMF.

Max whipped around, as the voice drew closer for a moment, smelling of sulfur and brimstone.

"Ich bin die Ausgeburt des bösen."

BAMF.

Max whirled around, and caught sight of Jean who flashed a smile in Storm's direction, utterly amused. She relaxed, willing to admit that she had been slightly freaked out at first. She pulled closer to them, and glanced upwards wanting to get sight of the man they had come for. There! Up by the pillars near the ceiling. Her mouth dropped open as her eyes caught sight of the black curls that peered out from behind the stone, the moonlight from the windows giving him away.

"He's a teleporter," Jean said softly, "must be why the professor had a hard time locking on to him."

BAMF

Max took a step forward when she heard the sound and looked up to the supports. She squinted and was just able to make out his figure from the small blur in the shadows.

"We're not here to hurt you," Storm called out, even though she was facing the wrong direction, "we just want to talk."

"Gehen sie raus!" He yelled back and Max could not help but scurry back to Jean with her heart beating in her chest.

"Are you bored yet?" Jean asked and Max realized when Storm nodded that this was child's play considering the dangerous missions they had done in the past.

"You sure you don't want to come down?" The white haired woman asked, but heard no reply. In response she sent out a lightning bolt to break the support he had been resting on and Max could only watch as he plummeted down with a scream.

She instinctively stepped forward to catch him but realized that it was unneeded when Jean caught him in midair like he was a piece of paper.

"You have him?" Storm asked and Max licked her lips. He was finally there, right in front of her.

Jean chuckled, "He's not going anywhere. Are you?"

Max smiled and barley hid the gasp the left her lips when her was turned to face them still in mid-air. He was just like she had seen him in the dreams. Tall and broad shouldered with dark blue skin and black curls. His three fingers on each hand and two toes on each foot barely stood out compared to his eyes which were a glowing yellow that set her insides on fire. And that were filled with fear.

"Please don't kill me," he spoke, showing his bright sharp fangs as he did, "I didn't mean to harm anyone."

"I wonder what gave them that impression," Storm said sarcastically and Max elbowed her in the stomach. She quickly changed tactics, "what's your name?"

"Wagner. Kurt Wagner," he replied before Max noticed the redness that was spreading on his jacket shoulder.

'He's hurt,' she thought to Jean before slamming up her shields once more.

"We aren't here to hurt you Kurt," Max said softly and the blue German's eyes widened as he scanned the area to find where the noise had come from. She lowered the camouflage in front of her and gave him a reassuring smile, "Hello, I'm Max. I see you're hurt, why don't you let us help you and we can talk while we are at it?"

She turned back to Jean, "you can interrogate him later, but for now will you put him on the floor. I can't see the wound very well from here."

They hesitated, but gave in eventually and Max reached over to steady him once his feet were on the floor, heart beating when her hand touched his for the first time. In her mind, her instincts roared at her to claim him, and to kill any person that wanted to take him away. She fought away the mindset and caught sight of Storm's worried gaze as she reached back to grab the medical kit she had been carrying in her tail, watching as the man's eyes widened.

"Mr. Wagner, do you have someplace with better lightning?" Storm asked as Max redundantly let go of his limbs.

"Ya, this way," he said warily and led the way past the statue of Christ to where a pile of blankets laid strewn onto a flat surface. She realized that it must have been his bed while he had hidden here and gently had him lay down on it and take off his coats and shirts.

* * *

"What do you remember?" Storm asked while Jean carefully cleaned the wound that had fortunately for Kurt only been a graze to his skin. It didn't even need stitches. Seated like a monkey on the edge of the bed Max watched as Kurt kept his eyes trained on them suspiciously. She felt a little upset that she had not been the one to help him with his wounds but decided that it had been for the best as the link in her mind that connected them threatened to make it known.

"There vas so much shooting, such pain and zen there vas only pain," Kurt explained sadly and glanced over at her like he was trying to put together a puzzle, "I could see it all happening but I couldn't stop myself. It vas like a bad dream"

Max frowned and patted the tail that swopped in her correction, gaining the blue furred mutant's attention. She could not help herself, his fear and sadness overwhelming her.

"Perhaps he is testing me," he said and they glanced over at the statue of the lord Christ.

"And before you were in the white house?" Storm asked, "What do you remember?"

"Nothing," Kurt replied softly, "I vas here."

Max looked worriedly over at her older teachers as Kurt's tail curled around her wrist for support and in turn her own wrapped itself over his ankle.

"Jean?" Storm asked, but the red head simply shrugged, confirming their suspicions. Kurt had been controlled by an outside force, which meant that the real killer was still out there.

"I'll rather get him to the Professor," Jean sighed as she taped down a piece of gaze over the wound on his arm.

"The Professor?" Kurt asked distrustingely, but the older female mutants ignored him to share a look. Max took pity on him and rubbed a smoothing hand over his knee.

"I'll explain later," she whispered softly and noticed his eyes narrow, "why is it so hard for you to believe us?"

"You have not exactly given me any reason to trust you," he said coldly, and inside her head, her link howled in pain.

"You're right, "she replied, "we haven't, but you've been asking god for an answer to save you. Is it so hard to believe that we are that answer?"

He seemed to take her words in for a moment, and she noted that his golden eyes that still drew her in were shining newly covered in hope under the weariness.

"Did you do these yourself?" Storm asked as she ran her hand over one of the markings on his chest. They were raised, each unique and done with a sharp blade and a lot of pain which surprised Max enough to draw her out of her jealousy. She had assumed that they had been tattooed on for the better part of her life.

"Ya," Kurt turned to show them that the markings went all the way down to his hips, but stopped at his back where he could obviously not reach. Doing so, he revealed the circle that was pressed into the skin on the back of his neck.

"And what about this?" Jean asked as she felt the mark, "did you do this?"

But his reaction as he reached backwards to feel it for himself with one of his large fingers told them all that they had to know about it. It was obviously where he had been controlled from.

* * *

 **TRANSLATION GERMAN TO ENGLISH:**

Gehen sie raus –Get out!

Ich bin ein Bote des Teufels! – I am the devil's messenger

Ich bun Augeburt des Bossen – I am the spawn of evil


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Hey guys sorry for the late upload.**

 **Warning: Hints at attempted suicide**

 **Disclaimer: Primessparkling does not own XMen or any of its characters. she only owns her OC's and part of this plot.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 4**

 **FIRST TALK**

* * *

The jet's vibrations seemed to compete with the way her body tingled when it finally took to the air with its cloak activated. The dark skies of the night outside failed to get her attention as she stared at Kurt from the bunk opposite him. He stared back, rosemary gripped in his hand before turning away to continue to pray. She fought with herself for a moment and at any other time would have laughed to herself. For years she had pinned after the blue man, coming up with hundreds of different things she had wanted to ask, to know about him, and here she was. She was sitting right in front of him and yet it felt like she had been frozen to the ground and her voice had been torn out. She shook her head and force herself slowly to her feet to sit next to him. He kept his head bowed and for a while she simply listened to the soft German words he spoke, enjoying the smooth gravely sound of it. He looked up when she was seated and his eyes stole her breath away. She steeled herself.

"So your name is Kurt?" She asked softly, the sounds of Storm and Jean trying to contact the professor and the mansion drifting into the background as an invisible barrier seemed to drop over them.

"Ja, but in the Munich circus I vas known as the incredible Nightcrawler," he said and it seemed that he was proud of his heritage.

She smiled and her eyes caught sight of the marking on his chin. She fidgeted around as the question that had welled up in her for years flew to her mind, not wanting to be disrespectful.

"So," she fought the urge to reach out as she asked, "What are they?"

"Their angelic symbols past down onto mankind by the ark angel Gabriel," he said and Max's mind purred in happiness.

"They're beautiful," Max said. Her hand reached up before she could stop it, "can i?"

He nodded and allowed her to trace them for herself with the very tips of her fingers. She was completely astounded. How he could withstand so much pain and still have used the same patience that he had without breaking amazed her.

"How many do you have?" She asked, feeling a sense of loss when she pulled her hand away from his face. Her empathy often became doubled when she was in direct contact with a person and his mind was like no other she had ever felt before. The thoughts of others on her own often repulsed her, but Kurt's mind was different. She couldn't quite explain it but it drew her in like a moth to light. Or a bee to honey. His emotions were the very air around her yet they did not try to force themselves past her shields like they knew of her boundaries. It was pleasant, yet strange to a person who had spent their whole life being attacked from all sides.

"One for every sin," Kurt replied and smirked, almost sending Max into a pile of goo, "so quite a few."

Max laughed and poked him in the shoulder, "you should show me this other side of you sometime."

Kurt smiled and cleared his throat, glancing over at the two mutants in the front of the jet, "so you, Miss Monroe and Miss Grey are school teachers?"

Max smiled and nodded, "Well yeah, we work at a school for people like us, where we can be safe."

"Safe?" Kurt asked frowning, "from what?"

"From people that what to hurt us," Max looked down and her hands tightened into fists as her eyes caught sight of the long scar that peeked out from under her long sleeved shirt at the wrist on her right arm. It was one of the few she had gotten before Cathy had died. She looked up when she felt large fingers wrap over her hand and looked into orbs of gold.

"You know outside of the circus, most people vere afraid of me," he said softly as Max put her other hand on top of his own that felt so natural on her skin, "but I didn't hate them, I pityied s'em. Do you know why?"

Max shook her head and he gave her a toothy smile, "because most people vill not know anything other z'han what they see with their own two eyes."

Max sighed, "Well I gave up on pity a long time ago."

Kurt was silent after that. He looked away and pulled his hand free and Max feared that she had frightened him away with her words. But then he reached out to cup the side of her face gently and Max thought that she would turn to a pile of mush as she leaned back into the appendage.

"Someone so beautiful should not be so angry," he said, though she could see the surprise in his eyes that she had not flinched away from him.

Her mind flashed back to everything she had gone through in her life and a guarded look appeared over her eyes, "sometimes anger is what prevents a person from just giving up and pulling the plug on life."

"So can faith," he said softly, eyes wide when he caught sight of tell tail scars that ran over the bottom of her left wrist under her red bandanna. She looked to open her mouth to argue; when Jean's startled voice broke through the barrier that had surrounded them like a bucket of ice water to some one's skin. Max's head shot up and she realized that they had been moving towards each other like they were going to kiss and flushed.

"I found an active ," Jean flicked at the switches and brought the call out on loud speaker.

"Logan?" Storm asked, "What's going on? Why can't we get ahold of anybody?"

"Everyone's gone Jean," Logan murmured, "the soldiers came."

"What about the children?!" Max asked as she flew up from her seat, startling Kurt beside her. Her heart raced. Who would attack a group of children?

"Some of them escaped," Logan sighed and Max shared an extremely concerned look with everyone else aboard the jet, "not sure about the rest."

"We haven't been able to reach the professor with Scott either," jean explained and Max gasped. She quickly searched through her mind's landscape where all of her bonds laid and located the professor's, being one of the few people she had really allowed close enough to form one with. It was a mixture of dark purples, blacks and oranges. She followed it as she had in the past, but could go no further like a barrier had been placed over his end.

"Where are you Logan?" Storm asked immediately.

"In Boston with Bobby Drake's family," the feral replied and they all scrambled to get a lock on his position.

"Okay," Storm said, "we're on our way."

"And Storm, make it fast," Logan added before the communication was closed. Max could only stare blankly into nothing, not wanting to think of those that had not gotten away. She was startled out of her reverie when Kurt wrap a hand over her own to pull her to one of the seats. He sat next to her, pulling his feet up onto the chair and with muscle memory she strapped herself into the chair.

"Hang on you two, things may get a bit bumpy," storm warned and they were off.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Primes sparkling does not own X-men or any of Marvel's characters. She only owns her oc's.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 5**

 **THE FIRST OF SEVERAL ANNOYENCES**

* * *

"Looks like they started the party without us," Storm rolled her eyes as she landed the jet in the street with an ease only years' worth of practice could afford. Max couldn't help but agree. The street was in a bad shape and the war that Max had witnessed on the anniversary of Cathy's death had moved to the most quite suburbs of the city of Boston. There were small fires here and there, but the cop cars that covered the streets had been charred black and some even lay on their roof tops. To the side she saw some of the residents and bystanders dragging burnt police men and women out of the way and cringed. There was only one mutant that she knew of that could manipulate fire and that was Jonathan Allerdance. Her tail flicked agitatedly side to side and under her beanie her ears twisted to flatten themselves against her head as the ramp slowly lowered and the group made their way over. She saw Rogue pull on a pair of white gloves and guessed that she had put out all the major fires before they had arrived if the marks disappearing from John's face were any indication to go by. She noticed Bobby pause to look back, and her heart went out to him. She knew the look he gave to his family hiding in the house; she had experienced it more times than she was willing to admit. It was one of hurt, and most of all betrayal of the highest kind. He turned back to them and Max half turned to greet them as they walked up the ramp. The glare she gave the them when they stared and jumped back from Kurt caused them to wince, but it was obvious that the damage had already been done.

"Guten tug," Kurt greeted trying to be friendly, but the others remained silent.

"Who the hell is this?" Logan asked sitting into his chair as he strapped himself into the chair.

"Kurt Wagner," the blue demon puffed up his chest, "but in the Munich circus I vas known as the incredible Nightcrawler."

"Yeah save it," Logan growled, "Storm?"

"We're out of here," she called back and Max placed a comforting hand on Kurt's as the jet lifted into the air.

"Don't mind Logan," she said, "he's like that with everyone. You get used to it."

Kurt nodded gratefully and turned his hand so that he could interlock his fingers with her own. Max shivered at the move. It was almost intermit.

"How far are we?" Logan asked once we were in the air.

"We're actually coming up on the mansion now," Jean replied with a sad smile.  
Storm frowned, "I've got two signals approaching. Coming in fast."

Max sensed the emotions of the people in the jets before they even made contact and she could feel that they were eager to fire a gun.

New recruits.

Max gulped.

"Unidentified aircraft you are ordered to descend to 20000 feet. Return with armed escort to Hans Comet air force base," a young female voice said monotone over the radio, "you have 10 seconds to comply."

"Wow," Storm said, "somebody's angry."

"I wonder why," Max snorted and Jean shot her a look in warning, as Logan glanced over at John.

"Lower your altitude now," the pilot order again. Max felt Kurt's fingers tighten their grip on her and when she turned she saw one of the pilots showing them hatefully to go down.

In response Max gave her the finger.

"Max!" Storm chided and Max just smirked, a laugh threatening to break free when she saw Kurt's horrified face.

"They're falling back," Storm said but Max shook her head.

"No they're not," she called out, taking a breath when she noticed Logan stare at their joint hands, "I can still feel them nearby."

"They're locking us," Jean stated and began to ready the shields on the jet. Kurt gave her a curious look, but she forced herself to face forward.

"What!" Logan roared.

"They're gonna fire," Storm said and Logan made a mad dash for his seat. Max screamed when the jet suddenly sped up and she clutched at Kurt's hand like a life line as he made a cross over his chest with his other.

"I've gotta shake them," Storm warned and suddenly they were upside down in the air, and Max felt all her blood flow to her head.

"Please don't do that again," John looked a little pale around the gills, and Max rolled her eyes at him.

"Doesn't this thing have any weapons?" Logan asked bending the arm rests of his chair with the force of his grip. In response, Max felt Storm loosen some of the control she had on her ability, her emotions becoming as dark as the storms she controls. Her eyes glowed white and she summoned twisters to form out of clear skies. One jet got sucked in, and the other fired something before she was claimed herself.

"Everybody okay back there?" Jean asked once the skies had cleared up again and Max fought the laugh at Wolverine's negative. Out of everyone on the jet, he was the one with the best chance of survival had it went down. She smiled and shared a relieved look with her unknowing Alter, but it was cut short when some very worrying beeps began to sound from the console. Max pushed against Kurt to try a see the screen in front, and suddenly she did not feel as relieved any more.

"Oh my god," Storm said, "There's two of them."

Max gasped and the next minute pulled away from Kurt to clutch her head. She did not respond when he grabbed onto her arms worriedly, too focused on the pressure building against her shields from Jean as she attempted to either blow up the missile or steer it clear from its path. It was crushing her like a rubbish compactor and tears came to her eyes from the intensity of it. And then it was gone, the missile having blown up with a massive BOOM after it spun out of control and Max slowly was allowed to return to the living world.

"Max!" She looked up at Kurt's face, realizing that he had been calling her name the entire time since Jean had activated her powers. They were far stronger than they had been two years previous and Max felt like kicking herself for not noticing earlier, "Herzchen, are you all right?"

She nodded, but spoke too soon as the pressure returned to the kill the second missile. She bit her lip hard to stop herself from screaming out and Kurt wrapped his arms around her trembling frame. Then it was gone once more and the ship was rocked forward.

"ROGUE!" Max screamed when she saw the girl get pulled out of the jet by the g-force. She had seen her struggle earlier to strap herself in earlier, but had thought that she had managed to get it right. Now she was probably falling to her death.

"Kurt," she said simply and the German man nodded. He disappeared in a puff of dark blue smoke that smelt heavily of sulfur and brimstone with a BAMF.

"NOOO," Bobby screamed and Logan matched his cry as the ship began to plummet towards the ground.

BAMF!

And then he was back, clutching a terrified Rogue in his arms that resembled a kawala bear on its favorite tree. Max closed her eyes as the ground loomed closer. They were going to die, in the crash, and she would never have the chance to woo her Alter, to feel THAT bond with him and perhaps one day start a family. The sound of metal moving caught her attention and she suddenly was grateful that she had managed to put on her seatbelt as she was jerked forward as the plane stopped. She opened her eyes, wondering how they had even managed to survive or why there had been no explosion. She expected to see fire and burnt bodies. What she didn't expect to see was Magneto standing next to Mystique, looking as smug as ever as the metal manipulating mutant prevented them from falling to their deaths. Max just wanted to smack those grins off their faces.

"When will these people learn how to fly," Magnito chuckled looking over at Mystique. Max decided that she really wanted to hit him in the face.

With a chair.

Preferably made of lava.

* * *

 **Translation german to English:**

Guten tug – good afternoon


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Primes sparkling does not own X-men or any of Marvel's characters. She only owns her oc's.**

 **Warning: Mentions of death and suicide attempts**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 6**

 **GRANOLA BARS**

* * *

She shivered under the cold breeze that blew through the trees, curious about the new comers that had no choice but to visit the lonely patch of Forrest in the middle of nowhere. She tried to rub some warmth back into her frozen arms which were covered by her thin long sleeved shirt. Under her beanie, her ears twitched as she watched Kurt through the trees sit on the grass below her on his own. Her heart broke at the sad look on his face. She was tempted to go over to him, but she was aware that Rogue wanted to speak to him on her own and decided to rest back on her own thoughts. She fingered the silver locket that hung around her neck. It was old, and something that had belonged to her parents and her parents' parents. It was round and engraved with faded patterns that wove into each other with finesse. In the center of it a mermaid lounged comfortably and hung onto the smaller circle it had been carved in. Max sighed and she pulled it off to look at it properly. She leaned back against the bark of the tree.

"Oh Cathy," she murmured, "What would you do in my place?"

"Who is Cathy?" Kurt asked and if it weren't for her tail holding her to the tree, Max would have painfully fallen to the ground. As she was she looked up into Kurt's golden eyes. He hung upside down from his tail on a branch above them and gripped the wood with his two toed feet. She just about jumped out of her skin.

"Jeash Kurt wear a bell would you?" She said as the blue mutant dropped onto the branch next to her, "you scared the begebeers out of me."

"Traurig Kleine," he said with a toothy grin, but Max could sense that something was bothering him, "but I cannot help it if a schön mädel was sitting in my tree."

"What's kleine mean?" She asked once she settled back into her branch.

Kurt chuckled warmly, "it means little one."

"Oui, I'm not short! I'm under tall," she said mock punching him in his arm. She looked up to him, "is everything alright? You seem a little down."

His smile dropped away almost immediately and Max felt a sense of alarm alert her when she noticed his tail flick around in distress and his fingers curl into fists.

"I remember everything," he said and wordlessly Max reached over and pulled him to her. She said nothing while she rocked him, sensing that he was not finished yet, not even a sound escaping her throat when he lifted her into his lap so that she didn't have to strain herself trying to comfort him. He tucked his face into her shoulder, "they came for me after the show, back in Germany, when I vas praying in the church. Zen sey took me to zis place in zie mountains and sey hurt me. Sey made me attack zee president."

Max said nothing. She did not know what to say to that. She felt a wave of utter rage flow through her at the wrongs that had been done to her Alter and hugged him tighter in an attempt to sooth it. He was alive and in her grasp now and she thrived in it. Plus he was really warm and her body was extremely thankful for it. His body shook and small gasps broke out of him and she quickly realized that he was crying. In response she ran a hand through the dark curls on his head, not caring that he was getting her shirt full of tears. After a while, she felt him begin to calm down and carefully curled her tail around his frame.

"Comfy?" He asked and Max jumped, sure that he had fallen asleep. She blushed when she realized the position they were in but made no move to get up.

"Yeah," she sighed, "you're nice and warm. I can move if you want me to though."

"Nien, its fine," he chuckled, "so who eez Cathy?"

"She was my sister," she said softly, tucking her head into his coat to fight back her tears as the pain in her head reminded her of what was no longer in her life, "she died of a broken heart a couple of years ago."

"I'm sorry for your loss," he said softly and bowed his head.

Max shook her head, "I've come to terms with it."

"Do you vant to talk about it?" He asked and Max kept quiet for a long time.

"It hurt for a long time," she said after a moment, clutching at the worn locket in her hand, "still does. After she died I became distant with the world. My brother was out of the country when it happened so he wasn't a lot of help. For a long time, I just suffered until I decided I wanted it all to stop and one day I got myself a really sharp knife and took it to my wrists."

Kurt rubbed a finger over the scars, "vat happened zen?"

"An old couple found me bleeding out in an alley. They took me in, saved my life and gave me some new clothing on my back. They showed me such kindness and even wanted to adopt me, mutant or not. And I wanted nothing more than to live with them."

"Vhy didn't you?" Kurt asked softly still holding her wrists.

"I came home one day from school to find their corpuses on the living room floor," tears ran down Max's face, "after that, I fled town and kept running until the Professor found me and offered me a home at the school."

"Vhen zis is all over do you zink he vill do zee same for me?" Kurt asked softly and he wiped a large finger over her cheeks, clearing away the tears.

"I know he will Kurt," she sat back with a blush, "maybe you could teach the children German."

"Vill they not be afraid of me?" He asked and Max grabbed his hands, squeezing gently.

"Once they get to know you they will love you," she said seeing his surprise, "I just know it, besides you can help me with my classes."

"Vat do you teach?" He asked, "I forgot to ask."

"I'm in charge of religious studies and dance," she said with a fond smile, "though it can be a little hard to do when you're only a little older than the oldest student there"

"Exactly how old are you?" Kurt asked and Max smiled softly.

"I turned 20 three months ago," she said softly, "what about you?"

"Vou are zo young," Kurt murmured, "I am 26."

"Were you really in a circus Kurt?" She asked remembering the carnival landscape she had watched him in her dreams.

He seemed to perk up, chest inflating like a proud peacock, "Ya I vas the star act with my sister on ze trampese."

"My parents took us once to go see a show when me and Cathy were really little," Max said but then realized what she had said. She hadn't spoken about her parents since the night Cathy's husband had been killed, "I don't remember much of it. I remember there were a lot of lights though."

"You haven't been since then!" Kurt asked and Max chuckled at the look on his face. She shook her head and he immediately burst into some stories about the circus that raised him in Munich. He told her of the feeling of ecstasy that rushed through him when he performed, and the way the place always smelt of popcorn and hay. Some of the tales made her laugh hard enough to cry. Such as the time his foster brother, Stefan, locked him in the cage with the tiger cubs during their travels, and how his foster mother had made Stefan sleep in there as punishment. Or the time they had gone to perform a special show in Transylvania and they told him that vampires preferred certain blood over others. Needless to say he had point blank refused to go out to preform that night and his mother had released the true fury of a woman scorned on those responsible. A frown appeared on her face when he told her of the few times the circus had to pack up and leave early because of an angry mob, or the way some of the children would begin to cry at his appearance.

"You took the insults a lot better than I would have," she said softly and he placed a hand on her cheek.

"Because it iz not my place to be angry at zose who have hurt me, but god's," Kurt said softly but then blushed when his stomach let loose a mighty rumble. She looked up at him with a raised brow but blushed herself when her own stomach made itself known loudly.

"Hungry?" She asked and he nodded before she got off his lap and dug into the deep pockets on the loose and baggie cargo pants that she wore. The link in her mind whined in loss but she shook it off. She pulled out two granola bars and handed own to him. He looked at her curiously.

"It's a granola bar. They're my favorite. They taste sort of like homemade honey oatmeal," she said tearing off the cover on hers. She settled back into her branch and began to nibble on hers as Kurt followed her example and Max suddenly wished that she had brought a camera with her as he took his first bite of the bar. His eyes widened, tail thumping against the bark of the tree and his ears wiggled in delight as he hummed out in pleasure. Max chuckled.

"Good?" She asked in amusement and he nodded. She smiled and quickly finished her own, pulling out another when he looked at his rapper in longing. He thanked her and tore into that one while she leaned back against the trunk of the tree. She could not believe how comfortable it was between them even though they had only physically known each other for less than 24 hours. She had known about him since she was a little girl at the tender age of 7 years old, but she thought that was something she wouldn't share with the demon man until later. Much later. She stared out in the direction of the ship as she pulled out another bar for herself and saw Logan chat up Jean with that sad love struck look in his eyes that she had seen the first time she had watched them interact together. She sighed and Passed Kurt another bar from her pockets, chuckling at his expression.

"How many do you have?" He asked eyeing her trousers. Max blushed and shrugged, eyes twinkling in mirth.

"It's a secret," she whispered holding a finger to her lips.

"Hey runt," she glanced down to see Logan looking up at them from the ground, "get down here will you?"

Max flashed Kurt a smile. She hopped out from the branches and landed softly landed to the Balls of her feet. She heard her Alter BAMF down behind her and rolled her eyes.

Show off.

She turned back to Logan and grimaced. He did not look pleased at all.

"You elf, back to the camp," Logan growled and Max tossed Kurt a sly smile before he disappeared with a puff of smoke, "Max a word."

"Yes Logan?" Max fidgeted under his stare and she watched as the man huffed.

"What's with you and the elf?" He demanded and internally she sighed?

"Always to the point as you usually are," she mumbled, "and I don't know what you're talking about."

"Bullshit," he growled, "I saw how you were sitting on his lap earlier. You've never done that with anyone else."

"It wasn't like that," she felt her cheeks warm up with blood, "he needed comfort."

"Do you comfort everyone with a lap dance?" Logan asked with a raised brow and the flames in her cheeks returned with a vengeance.

"Logan!" She shrieked, "It wasn't like that."

"Sure it wasn't," he said and Max bristled.

"Is there any specific reason why you called us away?" She asked hoping to change the subject of her actions with her Alter.

Logan stared at her ungivingly but eventually gave in, "just make sure you have all your things together. We'll be leaving for Alkali Lake as soon as the Jet's working. That's where Striker's taken the professor and the kids."

She nodded and calmly walked with him over to the tents where an emergency pack of hot chocolate had been broken open and dispersed between the groups.

* * *

Alkali Lake was a large expanse of water that seemed to span out in one direction as far as the eye could see and burrow into the mountain in the other. It was mostly covered in ice but some of the water was running as it entered the valley between the white caped hills. The blanket of snow that covered the soil was thick and covered the majority of the trees that had long since lost their leaves but were too stubborn to die. Max tapped her fingers on the hand under her chin slowly onto her skin one by one. To the others she appeared to be glancing out of the window, but Max was slowly concentrating on her abilities. She did not know why she did it, because she knew her sister was dead. Yet when she had dreamt that night in the tent she had shared with Storm, it had not been of Kurt but of her beloved twin, warning her to protect him. She frowned. Bracing herself, Max lowered the Shields she held around her delicate mind and flinched inwardly at the amount of fear, hate and discomfort that struck her from all sides. She felt her empathy expand and feel for Kurt's mind, purring in delight when it felt the positive feelings of faith that hid his fear. Carefully, she wrapped a layer of defense around it and shielded his mind from everyone around him as well as her own. She was a bit disappointed, but knew it was better this way as the strain of carrying dual shields began to build over her shoulders. It would have been for the best.

"Alright, so here is the dam itself," Jean pointed to a structure on the projector that they had pulled out of the console, "the actually base is located directly below it."

"Now this is the walkway," Work explained, "and these are the current water levels."

Max felt her heart sink as she gazed at the image. There was no way in, "if we even tried to blow the doors Striker could flood the dam and kill us all."

"Leave that to me," Logan murmured and Max glanced over at him from where he was leaning against a wall behind Kurt, "something tells me that Striker wants me alive."

"No," Magneto shook his stubborn head, "the person who has to go inside must know how to open the mechanism for the door. What are you going to do, scratch it with your claws?"

Logan had nothing to say for that and max had to agree that it made sense. Although it did not want to anything to change her need bust in his face with a chair.

"I rather prefer to live," the old man continued.

"Kurt," Storm asked, but the blue mutant simply shook his head.

"I must zee vhere I am going or I could land in a wall," he said and Max flinched, not even wanting to have to think about if he were to die.

"Then what are we going to do?" Rogue asked after a moment of silence defended on the group.

Mystique simply smiled, "leave that to me."

* * *

The first guard had been easy to take down. He had been staring into an empty room with a loose hold on his gun and a bored expression on his face, when Max had come up behind him fully invisible from the world and pushed her fingers into a specific spot in the muscles between his neck and shoulder. He fell like a log and she glanced over to the others who stood in shock at her move and smiled. She was proud to have figured out how to a Vulcan nerve pinch after watching an old Star trek episode with Rogue one school weekend and found it to be quite useful. Her moment of fame was cut short however when an entire group full of soldiers came running down the hall. Like an action movie, every once seemed to slow down as the X-men ran for them. Logan refused to hold back, and speared two of the men without remorse. He had always been a good fighter and Max could not help the shiver of fear that rolled through her frame as she saw the violence and felt the men die through her weakened Shields. She ducked when a soldier that had snuck away from the group tried to sneak up get behind her and hit her in the head with the blade that had been attached to his rifle. It cut off the edges of her pony tail and under her hoodie her ears flared in anger. She spun around on her hip, lifted her leg as she was crouched and slammed her heel into the man's stomach. The young adult dropped with a grunt and Max pulled her leg down onto his head before he hit the ground. He twitched but did not get back up again and Max huffed. She felt the back on her head, and wanted to scream when she felt how short he had cut her neon blue locks.

"Dammit," she hissed towards the body, "do you have any idea of how long it took me to grow it that long?"

"Max stop fussing about your hair, it will grow back," Storm said before she electrocuted the man attempting to hit her.

"That's what you said the last time and I looked like the Wookie reincarnated for a week after," Max grouched but then ducked at a body nearly slammed into her. She turned to see Kurt fighting off three or four people at once and suddenly Max understood how he had single handedly took out the secret service men without getting shot. He fought well, moving smoothly and with ease even as he teleported between them to throw them off guard. There was something dangerous about it, but Max knew it had to do with the fact that not once did his expression change as he fought.

'He will protect us well,' her subconsionce told her, 'strong and dominating. Good stamina.' Max blushed as her eyes widened as her mind brought up all the ways her Alter could put that stamina to good use. What was she thinking! This was not the time for her mind to bring up fantices of what she wanted Kurt to sinfully do to her body, when they were in a rescue mission with a high chance of death over their heads. She shook her head as the last of the guards fell as quickly jogged to catch up to the group as they set off. The control room was easy to locate and they got in to find Mystique at a control panel. Max had known that the blue mutant had been a master hacker, but the people who had told her of how ggod the woman was did not do her justice. Within seconds she was pulling up a whole bunch of maps and data that had been hidden behind a maze of fire walls and passwords. Max leaned closer trying to make any use of it, but could not see what she did. Max huffed and resorted to using her own methods to get around and allowed her empathy to flare. And that was when she saw it. Her double shields around her mind had prevented her from noticing it before, but now one layer filtering her thoughts less and it was as obvious as day break. The thin, twirling swirl of blue dust that connected Mystique and Kurt was unmistakable and completely unnoticeable to the naked eye. Mystique was Kurt's biological mother. Shocked was putting it lightly, but Max was pulled out of her musings when the faint trickle of fear belonging to very young minds became apparent to her senses.

"The kids," she breathed in horror, "they're here, I can feel them."

"They're a level below us, Xavier is one the same floor as us" Mystique said but there was a strange going in her eyes as she glanced at her, and Max picked up her pleading to not mention what she had learnt to Kurt. She was reluctant to agree but did none the less and turned her attention to one of the screens when she heard Jean cry out. She noticed Jubilee right away holding onto some of the younger children that climbed to her in fear while some of the older boys tried to touch the wall only to be shocked.

"We need to find them," Storm said and Max nodded, "Max lead the way. Kurt, you're with us."

"We'll get the professor," Jean agreed, "Right Logan?"

But there was no answer. Max knew that there wouldn't be one. She had felt his mind move further away, but had said nothing in respect for the need he radiated to find out about his history. It was something he needed to do on his own. None the less, Max turned around with the rest of the group and confirmed her suspicions when she saw his ear piece lying on the floor.

* * *

When people dance, they tended to work out muscles they never knew they had before. As such they were most of the time fitter than most others. It was important to have these levels as healthy muscles meant a less of a chance of hurting yourself, and that you can move faster than others for longer. And at that moment, Max could not help but be utterly grateful for her profession as she ran through the halls like hell itself was on her heels. She was followed closely by Kurt and Storm who had allowed her to take the lead due to her empathy which she used to lead them closer to where the several minds of children called out to her. Her sneakers slipped across the floors when she rounded the corners too sharply but she barely noticed it as the cries became louder and closer. Now physically able to hear them, Max allowed Storm to overtake her and they were forced to draw to a stop outside of the large doors that kept the kids from them. Max pounded against the door with her fists, but it was of no use.

"Max," Storm warned, eyes turning white as she activated her powers, "stand back."

"No," she shook her head, "Don't. They're in a giant metal box remembering?"

"Right," the weather witch seemed to deflate slightly, but refusing to give up, Max looked around her. The walls of the base were rusted though and in need of a serious do over. Some of the pipes looked like they had seen beter days and were completely chewed through. From the ceiling hung wires that sparked and twisted into dangerous connections and one or two were even laying across the floor. The vent grating was hanging from a sole surviving screw that seemed to almost be at its life's end. Somehow Max knew that if the Floodgate opened that nobody would be missing the base. Eyes narrowing, she turned her attentions back to the grating and tapped Storm on the shoulder.

"I have an idea, but we need to hurry," She had Kurt lift her up to the ancient grating, leaving Storm to wait for them, "I can feel more soldiers on their way."

"Then go," Storm turned her eyes white again, "I'll cover you."

Nodding, Max covered her hands by her jacket and pulled at the grating with all her strength. It came off with a snap and with a deep sigh; she pulled herself up and into the small crawl space. She pulled up her nose in disgust when the putrid smell of mold and sweat met her senses.

"Let's get this over with," she murmured and crawled through the small space, aware of Kurt's lumbering form following, struggling just as much and if not more than her because of his larger size. When she saw the first piece of light appearing from a duct no more than ten feet away, she found that the smallness of the vents no longer bothered her as the terrified wails of the children both physically and mentally assaulted her. She let out a sigh of relief when she could visibly see the small frames of the teens in the room before her and was about to ask Kurt if her would be willing to help when she smiled. He was already gone.

BAMF!

Jubilee's scream bought her out of her day dream, and she glanced up into the room. Cowering away into the shadows the children cowered and held onto each other, fearful of the creature that had suddenly appeared before them. Max worried that thy had upset him, but it seemed like Kurt simply took it in stride. He offered a three fingered hand out to the small boy who had hair as white as Storm's who Max recognized as Cody. She winced, but to her complete surprise, the eight year old shakily pushed his way out from the group and gave him he Vulcan salute. Her mouth dropped open. As far as she knew, Cody had only ever responded well to her and the Professor, and now it seemed Kurt was on that list as well. Kurt taking it in stride, raised his hand so that his palm was facing towards Cody, making it look like her was holding a rather crude version of the greeting. Cody took another step and thinking quickly, Kurt BAMFED out with him in his arms only to appear a second later without him. Seeing their chance out, the other children quickly followed his lead as Max quietly let she drop to the floor and waited for her own turn.


End file.
